With current superchargers you have to park within a very small area, not too forward or behind by 4 inches, and not too far from the station. If you haven't done it before it can take a bit of re-maneuvering before you get it right. So longer cables are welcome.

I've had to get out and realign by a couple of inches twice on the short cable superchargers - never on the u-shaped ones with the longer cables. At least Tejon Ranch has bump stops to line you up with the short cables, but the longer ones are still nicer.

I've had to get out and realign by a couple of inches twice on the short cable superchargers - never on the u-shaped ones with the longer cables. At least Tejon Ranch has bump stops to line you up with the short cables, but the longer ones are still nicer.

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That's how it's suppoed to be. The lock is on the car side, so you can test it at home with your UMC/HPWC.

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Care to guess the length of the newer cables? If an ICE parked in the spot, could they reach an adjacent spot?

They're long enough so that you have plenty of leeway within the spot, but I don't think they can reach an adjacent spot. The cable is pretty beefy so you couldn't really run it over the car then quickly bend it back into the charge port, for example.

As others have mentioned, the only benefit of the U shaped cables is that they are longer and give you more wiggle room with where your car is parked. The cables aren't long enough to get around another car. The older cables were also housed behind a sliding door (Tejon has a manual door, hawthorne is automatic), and these newer ones eliminate the need for the door. Even the ones at Tejon and Hawthorne are better than the first supercharger at Gilroy which was REALLY short. you'd have to be 4 inches away from the curb.

I dont think there's any other magic to it other than being more convenient for the driver to get right the first time and a little easier maintenance for Tesla.

As others have mentioned, the only benefit of the U shaped cables is that they are longer and give you more wiggle room with where your car is parked. The cables aren't long enough to get around another car. The older cables were also housed behind a sliding door (Tejon has a manual door, hawthorne is automatic), and these newer ones eliminate the need for the door. Even the ones at Tejon and Hawthorne are better than the first supercharger at Gilroy which was REALLY short. you'd have to be 4 inches away from the curb.

I dont think there's any other magic to it other than being more convenient for the driver to get right the first time and a little easier maintenance for Tesla.

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The U shaped supercharger is also good for both right side chargers and left side charging (if thats how the Japanese and UK cars are configured).

I've heard that the newer superchargers have longer connection cables. I'm curious as to why.

Were the original ones too short? What issues do the longer ones fix? How long are they exactly?

It's true that if someone is connected, you can't unplug them, right?

What's the most reasonable explanation for them to make that change?

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I'm baffled that you're looking for a "reasonable explanation" for something simple like the use of slightly longer cables. Ockham's razor, man.

I used the Superchargers for the first time this past weekend--on the east coast. The older one (I forget which one) was a pain; I pulled in and thought I was pretty close, but I was just a bit too far. I was nervous about pulling out and in again so close to the curb--wasn't sure how close I had to be. I used to drive a very small car and am still getting used to the behemoth that is the Model S. It's large and there's little margin for error (I was this close!).

I backed out and pulled in again and it was fine, but I found the short cable annoying. We all think we're great parkers and we all want people parking perfectly, but this was ridiculous. The longer cables are tons better. They're not super long--just long enough that you don't need a laser guidance system to position yourself with no margin for error. Whew! ;-)

So, I have no proof, but I figure it's that simple--the cables are longer because they were too short before. I didn't realize which were the newer ones, but I'm glad they're moving to slightly longer cables.